The best retro games on mobile are official ports of the classics, such as Tetris, Pac-Man and the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, plus newer games built in the old style, like Stardew Valley, Vampire Survivors and Crossy Road. On iPhone, emulators have been allowed on the App Store since 2024, so apps like Delta can play old Nintendo games you legally own. Just be aware that retro games come and go: Sega pulled its whole Sega Forever collection from the stores in 2023.
Official classics you can still download #
| Game | Originally from | On mobile | Price model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tetris | 1984 | Official app published by PlayStudios | Free, with ads and purchases |
| Pac-Man | 1980 arcade | Bandai Namco’s official app | Free, with ads and purchases |
| Final Fantasy I to VI Pixel Remaster | NES and SNES era | Square Enix ports | Paid, one game at a time |
| Chrono Trigger | 1995 SNES | Square Enix port | Paid |
Tetris: the official app has changed hands #
The Tetris on your phone has had a complicated history. EA held the mobile license for years, then its Tetris apps stopped working on April 21, 2020. N3TWORK released a new official Tetris in January 2020, and PlayStudios took over the mobile rights in November 2021. If you want the real thing, look for the app from PlayStudios and ignore the lookalikes.
Wrong for: purists. The official app adds modern features and ads that the Game Boy version never had.
Pac-Man #
Bandai Namco’s official Pac-Man app has the maze, the dots and the ghosts, plus extra modes. Swipe controls take a minute to get used to, since the original was built for a joystick.
Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters and Chrono Trigger #
Square Enix’s Pixel Remasters rebuild the first six Final Fantasy games with cleaned-up pixel art and rearranged music, and each is sold separately. Chrono Trigger, often called one of the best role-playing games ever made, is also on mobile. These are long games, so they suit evenings more than coffee breaks.
Wrong for: anyone who wants something quick. A single Final Fantasy can take 20 to 40 hours.
New games with an old-school feel #
Some of the best retro experiences on phones are new games that borrow the look and spirit of the classics:
- Stardew Valley: a pixel-art farming game inspired by Harvest Moon, with no in-app purchases.
- Vampire Survivors: a pixel-art monster horde game that’s free on mobile, with optional ads.
- Crossy Road: Frogger reimagined in 2014 with blocky characters and a single tap to hop.
- Flappy Kittens: a tap-to-fly game in the Flappy Bird tradition with original 8-bit-style chiptune music.
Flappy Kittens (Flappy Cat on Google Play) is the quickest of these. Flappy Bird is itself retro now, having vanished from the stores in 2014, and Flappy Kittens keeps its one-tap, one-mistake formula. It adds fish treats to collect, combos, power-ups and 14 cats to earn. It plays offline and is free with ads. Our history of Flappy Bird explains why the original is gone.
Can you use emulators on a phone? #
Yes. Apple changed its App Store rules in 2024 to allow emulators of classic consoles, and Delta arrived on the App Store on April 17, 2024. It’s free, works on iPhone and iPad, and plays games from the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. On Android, emulators such as RetroArch have been available on Google Play for years.
There’s an important catch. Emulators themselves are legal, but the games, known as ROMs, are copyrighted. Downloading ROMs of games you don’t own from websites is generally copyright infringement. The legal routes are to copy games you own using a cartridge-dumping device, or to buy official re-releases. Emulator apps don’t come with games, and we don’t link to ROM sites.
Where did the retro games go? #
Retro games on mobile disappear more often than you’d think:
- Sega Forever, launched in June 2017, offered Sega classics free with ads. Sega quietly delisted the apps in September 2023, and the collection is gone.
- EA’s Tetris apps stopped working in April 2020 when the license moved on.
- The original Angry Birds was pulled from stores in 2019. A later remake, Rovio Classics, was delisted from Google Play and renamed on the App Store in 2023.
- Flappy Bird was removed by its creator in 2014 and never came back in its original form.
If a classic you love is on the store today, it may not be tomorrow. Paid games you’ve already bought usually stay in your purchase history for redownload, but even that isn’t guaranteed if a publisher pulls a game entirely.
Why retro games suit phones so well #
The classics were designed for short sessions, simple controls and small screens, which is exactly what a phone offers. An arcade game from 1980 was built to be understood in seconds and finished in minutes. Nostalgia helps too: a familiar game is easy to pick up, and the chiptune music alone can take you back.
Two tips make them better. Turn the phone sideways and the brightness up, since pixel art looks muddy on a dim screen. And for anything that used a D-pad, a Bluetooth controller or a clip-on phone controller is a big improvement over touch buttons.
For more modern picks that play in short bursts, see our list of the best casual mobile games. If you’d like to see which classics spread fastest in the smartphone era, our rundown of the biggest viral mobile games goes from Angry Birds to Wordle.
Frequently asked questions #
Is it legal to use emulators on iPhone? #
Yes. Apple has allowed retro console emulators on the App Store since 2024, and Delta is one of the best known. What isn’t legal is downloading copyrighted games you don’t own. Copy your own cartridges or buy official re-releases.
Can I play Game Boy games on my phone? #
Yes, through an emulator like Delta on iPhone or RetroArch on Android, using games you legally own. Nintendo doesn’t sell its classic Game Boy games as phone apps.
What happened to Sega Forever? #
Sega quietly shut it down in September 2023 by removing the apps from the App Store and Google Play. The collection had included Sonic and other Sega Genesis, Dreamcast and arcade games.
Is the original Snake game on phones? #
Snake first shipped preinstalled on the Nokia 6110 in 1998. There’s no official Nokia Snake app today, but many Snake-style games are on the app stores, and Google’s Snake game is free to play in a phone’s web browser.